The present invention relates to a connector block comprising at least one contact member in at least one cavity, each contact member being integrally made and provided with a first contact terminal for electrical contact to a contact member of a mating electric element, a second contact terminal and a corrugated spring part giving the contact member a resilient capacity in a predetermined axial direction and being provided with at least a substantially flat middle section.
Such a connector block is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,877, which discloses a connector for an electronic tester for testing an electronic device such as a printed circuit board. The known connector is provided with one or several resilient contact pins, each of said pins having a plunger member and a spring, which plunger member and which spring of each of the contact pins are jointly formed in one piece from a portion of metal sheet. In some of the embodiments shown, the spring has at least a substantially flat middle section. However, parts of the spring may be folded about folding lines. The spring may have an undulating or meander pattern or a zig-zag-shape. More details regarding this prior art connector block will be given below when FIG. 3 is explained. However, the known spring contact member is provided with a sharp contact point which makes the known connector unsuitable for many connecting and disconnecting operations: the sharp contact point would destroy the contact terminal of a mating connector within a very short time period.
EP-A-0,009,314 discloses an electrical connector suitable for micro-circuit technology. The connector comprises several connecting elements disposed in rows and columns. Each of the connecting elements is stamped and formed in one piece from sheet metal in strip form. Two identical sinuous portions extend from a strap, the end portions of which function as contact terminals for contacting conductors on e.g. printed circuit boards. The sinuous portions render the contact element resilient in an axial direction. Upper and lower spring sections extend from the strap portion. During operation, the entire connecting element is inserted in a corresponding cavity in the connector body in such a way that contact dimples, provided on the contact terminals are electrically contacting the upper and lower spring sections. The spring sections provide a shorter electrical path than that of the sinuous spring portions. However, both the sinuous spring portions and the spring sections for providing a short circuit are bent relative to the strap portion. Moreover, the end portions of the sinuous portion are bent to form a U-shape. Thus, these known contact members need many bending steps during manufacturing and are difficult to be made.